Handle making patterns

[mike swindell]

While recuperating from a MRSA infection the therapists had me use this: theraputty. Amazon carries of course,easily molds to your hand and of course reusable.Comes in different consistancy-soft to hard. It is about $11 but the upside is you can use as therapy too. One downside--you can't get it out your clothes, make sure you store in the container.

[Brian T]

I continue to use what I first found described by Gregg and Charlie at Kestrel Tool (PacNW First Nations-style blade smiths in WA.)
Palm up, fist grip around the handle. The tips of your second and third fingers should just touch the fat ball part of your thumb. A lot like picking the handle size for a tennis raquet.

My stretched hand span is 9.5", mostly fingers! Very noticeable differences in wood carving handle diameters. Best for me is 7/8" with a range of 3/4" up to 1". Surprising what you can feel, even applies to the hand grip portion of adze handles (visible in my posted images of those tools).

Mike: Short of carving whole handles for the experiment, would it be possible to wrap some of that theraputty around a dowel and figure out the handle size quite quickly?

[mike swindell]

Hi Brian, this putty is very flexible and can be stretched quite thin, I'm sure it would mold over a dowel for your handle.

[Nebraska]

How does this relate to handles?

[mike swindell]

Did you bother to read my very first post ?I clearly said that the theraputty can be molded to your hand. All one has to do is squeeze the putty like you would a knife handle and voila a handle pattern.If it doesn't feel right start over until you get the right shape.